The present invention relates to a method for production of s series of tactile contact units formed by continuously disposing a plurality of tactile contact units for push switches used in an operation unit of a small electronic device such as mobile phone and a tactile contact unit, and series of tactile contact units and a tactile contact unit produced by using the same method.
A conventional method generally employed for production of a series of tactile contact units is explained by referring to the drawing.
FIG. 8 is a drawing explaining a conventional tactile contact unit and the manner of its use.
In a perspective exploded view shown in FIG. 8(a), a thin flexible insulating pad 1 has a plurality of through-holes 1A at push switch positions. Elastic dome-shaped contacts 2 move up and down at the lower side having conductivity through the through-holes 1A. An adhesive tape 3 is adhered to the flexible insulting pad 1 by covering the elastic dome-shaped contacts 2 so as to fix the elastic dome-shaped contacts 2 on the through-holes 1A. One side of a double-sided adhesive tape 4 is adhered to the upper side of the flexible insulating pad 1, and the other side is adhered to the portion to be adhered of the electronic device.
In such a conventional manufacturing method of tactile contact units, the tactile contact units are produced as follows.
i) Through-holes 1A are formed at specified positions of a flexible insulating pad 1.
ii) Elastic dome-shaped contacts 2 are put into the through-holes 1A, covered with an adhesive tape 3, and fixed to the flexible insulating pad 1.
iii) In a later process, a double-sided adhesive tape 4 cut in a specified shape is adhered to specified positions of the flexible insulating pad 1.
A plurality of tactile contact units thus fabricated are arranged on the top of a roll film or the like having a slight adhesiveness, and a series of tactile contact units is formed.
This series of tactile contact units is supplied into the assembly process of electronic device, and individual tactile contact units are removed from the roll film.
Further, as shown in FIG. 8(b), the series of tactile contact units is adhered to the portion to be adhered such as transparent panel 5 of electronic device by means of a double-sided adhesive tape 4 on the flexible insulating pad 1.
Thus, the series of tactile contact units is assembled so as to confront the switch contacts (not shown) at the circuit side of the electronic device, and is used as a manipulation unit having push switches.
The conventional manufacturing method of series of tactile contact units involved the following problems.
A double-sided adhesive tape for adhering the series of tactile contact units to the portion to be adhered of the electronic device needs to be processed in a specified shape in another process.
The processed double-sided adhesive tape needs to be adhered to the flexible insulating pad.
Therefore, it requires the die and procedure for processing the double-sided adhesive tape. It also requires the facility and procedure for adhering the double-sided adhesive tape to the flexible insulating pad.
The present invention addresses the problems discussed above, and it is hence an object of the invention to present a method for inexpensively producing a series of tactile contact units and tactile contact unit by curtailing the manufacturing process, and a series of tactile contact units and a tactile contact unit produced by using the same method.
The method for production of a series of tactile contact units and a tactile contact unit, and a series of tactile contact units and a tactile contact unit produced by using the same method of the invention are characterized by the following
An adhesive of specified pattern is printed and adhered at specified intervals on the upper side of a flexible insulating pad.
Through-holes are formed at specified positions excluding the printed and adhered positions of the adhesive, and conductive contacts are continuously fixed on the through-holes.
As a result, the present invention does not require the die and procedure for processing the double-sided adhesive tape, and the facility and procedure for adhering the double-sided adhesive tape to the flexible insulating pad. Therefore, an inexpensive method for producing a series of tactile contact units and a tactile contact unit by curtailing the manufacturing process, and a series of tactile contact units and a tactile contact unit produced by using the same method are obtained.